The Season of Sin (Peace In The Storm Publishing Presents) Read online

  “He killed Nadia and I’m gonna make sure Matthews does something about it! If that doesn’t work I’ll go to the commissioner and the mayor! I’ll go to the media until Bruce pays for what he’s done!”

  “I give up! I can’t talk to you! You don’t listen!”

  Dylan ran upstairs.

  “Hey!” Jasmine trekked upstairs with her index finger in the air. “Come back here! Don’t walk away from me in my house! Dylan!”

  A door slammed upstairs.

  Zoë looked over her manicured nails. “I’m sorry about that. You guys came over to help and you had to get into this drama. Dylan’s gonna be staying here with Jasmine for a while.”

  Brianna did a double take. “They’ll kill each other.”

  Zoë chuckled. “I just hope I’m spared. I think I’m gonna invest in some earplugs.”

  Steven trembled from her radiating smile. “What do you know about Bruce?”

  “He’s still in love with Dylan and would do anything to get her back.”

  “Anything huh? Sounds kinda obsessive doesn’t it?”

  Zoë shrugged. “Bruce is a good guy at heart.”

  “So you don’t think Bruce is capable of murder?”

  “Of course I have no proof but I don’t think he did it.”

  “I asked you if you thought he was capable of it. Not if you thought he did it.”

  Zoë even looked beautiful flustered. Steven bit his tongue for fear of saying that aloud.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say, Detective Morris.”

  Brianna winked. “Your expression says it all.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “You wanna see Bruce?” Old Man Swaggert spit tobacco juice on the garage floor. He picked his teeth with his crusty pinky nail. He hobbled around the chaotic front counter. His oily suspenders hung off one shoulder and sagged in the back.

  “Yes we would like to talk to Mr. McNamara.” Brianna wiped oil off the bottom of her shoe. “Is he around?”

  He scratched his armpit. “Dis ‘bout Hollister ain’t it?” He spit in the trash can.

  Steven unbuttoned his coat. “It’s between us and Bruce.”

  “Hey I know you.” Swaggert looked Brianna up and down. “Yeah you said yo’ name’s Morris right? Saw ya’ on the news. You’re the cop that was with Nadia when she died.”

  “Yes I am.”

  He scratched his greasy neck. “Don’t tell me y’all think Bruce killed the bitch.”

  “Detective Morris and I just need to clear some things up with Bruce that’s all.”

  “Bruce is a good guy he just got a rotten temper.” Swaggert swatted a mosquito. “He’s a hothead.” He spit. “Yeah ol’ Bruce don’t take no shit but he don’t bother folks that don’t bother him first. Know what I mean?”

  “Oh I’ve had my experience with hotheads. Haven’t I, Steven?”

  Steven rolled his eyes. “Where’s Bruce?”

  “He out there in da’ back.” Swaggert spit again. “Fixin’ on that shit mobile. Come on. I’ll show ya’.”

  They followed him through the junkyard packed with dilapidated cars and auto parts.

  “Come on.” Swaggert led them behind the garage. “He ova here!”

  Swaggert’s cell rang.

  “Shit.” He spit on the gravel. “Uh, just go on back there. I gotta take this call.”

  They went around back. A tall muscular guy with black hair leaned under the hood of a red Trans Am. Hard Rock bellowed from the cheap radio in the weeds.

  Steven walked from behind Brianna. “Let me handle this. Say?” He stepped over the radio and tool kit. “Excuse me! Bruce?”

  Bruce bobbed his head to the music.

  “Hey!” Steven bumped him in the back.

  “Whoa!” Bruce fell on the engine. “Yo, man!” He slapped grease out of his face. “Man what the hell you doing?”

  “Well sorry but obviously you didn’t hear me.”

  “Shit. Man you gave me a heart attack.”

  Brianna stepped in front of him. “Well you are Bruce aren’t you?”

  He nodded. His blue eyes flickered under his black brows.

  “We aren’t going to take up much of your time. We need to ask you some questions. This is Detective Steven Kemp and I’m…”

  “I know who you are. You’re Detective Morris. I saw you on the news.”

  “Yes I am.”

  “I’m sorry for what happened to you.” He tinkered with something under the hood. “Are you all right?”

  She touched her head. “I’d be better if I knew who killed Nadia.”

  “Well.” Bruce yanked on a tube inside the car. “We all want something don’t we?”

  “You don’t seem too upset about it.” Brianna peeked under the hood.

  “Come on, Detective. I’m not stupid. I know someone’s told you how much I hated her right?” He cleaned his stained hands with a rag. “I’m not upset about her being dead and I’d be lying if I said I was. Nadia was a stone cold bitch and she made my life a living hell. If you ask me she didn’t die soon enough.”

  Steven peeked under the hood. “That’s a shitty thing to say.”

  “Look she wasn’t this innocent great doctor who saved poor souls like she let on. The woman was fucked up. Probably ten times worse than her patients are. You guys don’t know anything. You’re just the cops coming to clean up the mess.” He bent under the hood.

  “Do you realize you could be a suspect?”

  “Say what?” He laughed. “Lady you’re outta your mind. I haven’t done shit. If I had I would be shouting it from the rooftops with pride. I hope the bitch rots in hell but I feel sorry for the folks down there who gotta deal wit’ her.”

  “I suggest you start taking this seriously very quick.”

  “I didn’t do anything to Nadia, Detective Morris. Guess she’ll haunt me now right?” He slammed the hood. “She didn’t give me peace while she was alive so now she’s gonna fuck with me from the grave too?”

  Steven ran his hand down the side of the Trans Am. “She mentioned you in her journal.”

  “Journal?”

  “Nadia kept journals and I’m reading them to see if they lead to any answers.” Brianna leaned on the car. “She wrote you’d been threatening her. She seemed very scared.”

  “I told her to stay outta my business.” He got a wrench from the ground. “If she took it as a threat, that’s not my problem.”

  “Oh come on, Bruce.” Brianna looked at his dirty fingers. “You’re a big guy. I can’t imagine anything you say that can’t be a threat. The reason you guys fought was because of Dylan wasn’t it? You were really in love with her weren’t you? I bet you still are.”

  His jaws swelled. “I’m not gonna discuss Dylan with you. That’s my business.”

  “A crime has been committed.” Steven checked out the car’s interior. “So it’s our business too.”

  “Nadia tried to keep you two apart didn’t she? Why would she not want you with Dylan? Is it because you’re dangerous?”

  “No it’s because she couldn’t stand me. She thought I wasn’t good enough. She never even tried to get to know me. I didn’t kill Nadia. She wasn’t important enough for me to throw my life away on. I was in the pen for three years. You think I’d risk going back for someone I hated?”

  “It can’t be ignored that you had a motive,” Steven said.

  “I can prove I didn’t kill her. I’ve been out of town for the last week. I just got back last night.” He shuffled his feet in the grass. “My dad passed. He had lung cancer.”

  Steven nodded. “We know. We’re very sorry.”

  “How did you know my dad died?”

  “Not important.” Brianna got off the car.

  “Since you know I wasn’t in town then you know I wasn’t the killer. Case closed huh?” He got his radio and headed to the garage. “Go bother someone else.”

  “Hey!”

  Bruce stopped but didn’t turn around.

>   “Bruce it would be in your best interest to cooperate.”

  “Look I don’t need to be dragged into this shit. I’m trying to keep my life straight, Detective Kemp. Next year I’ll be thirty and look at me.” He shook the radio. “I’m still right where I was at nineteen, doing the same shit I was doing then. I haven’t accomplished a damn thing. I don’t wanna be a fuck up my whole life. People around here treat me like shit and I wanna prove to them I’m not.”

  Brianna shielded her eyes from the sun. “I hope you really are trying to get your life straight.”

  “Look I lost the most important thing in my life because I didn’t fight hard enough. I’m not losing anything else.”

  “You mean Dylan?” Steven stood beside Brianna.

  “See I did everything to make her happy and it still didn’t work out. Shit they say you gotta work for what you want, well I did and got screwed anyway.”

  Brianna watched him. “Fighting for someone you love is anything but easy.”

  “Just so much shit has happened you know?” He scratched his hair. A line of grease trailed down his forehead.

  “Yeah well don’t let anything stop you when you’re in love.” Steven glanced at Brianna. “Sometimes it’s worth it to keep fighting for it.”

  Bruce swatted at a fly. “We’re getting off point here. I didn’t kill Nadia. I told Matthews that and now I’m telling you.”

  “Jayce’s been here?” Brianna asked.

  “Yeah and he was getting on my nerves more than you two are. There is no way you can put Nadia’s death on me because I didn’t do it. So please leave me alone.”

  The detectives gave Bruce their cards and went to Steven’s car.

  Bruce watched them leave then headed inside.

  Swaggert tottered from behind the counter. “Dey gon’? They was tryin’ to pin Hollister’s murder on ya’ huh?” He spit.

  “You should know.” Bruce put his radio on the bucket behind the counter and sat in Swag’s chair. “I’m sure you were listening.” He rested his feet by the computer.

  Swaggert laid his scrawny arm on the counter. “Why you smiling like that? Oh hell. I know what you’re thinking and if you had half a brain, you’d cut it out now.”

  Bruce popped in a piece of gum. “And what am I thinking since you know so much?”

  “Don’t be a bigger fool than you are, Bruce. You thinkin’ now that the doc is outta the way it’s free season on her daughter’s pussy.” He spit. “But cha’ wrong.”

  “You’re an old dirty, perverted dog, Swag.”

  “Shit you thinking with momma out the way you can start banging her daughter again with no hassles and problems. Well you forgot how much trouble all that shit caused? You been whining about changing things, moving on and having a better life.” Swaggert got the broom from the corner. “And not to mention getting out of this hell hole. You keep your mind on that and off that girl you’d be better off.”

  “Why don’t you just stay out of my business, old man?”

  “Oh yeah I’m old when I ain’t saying what you wanna hear right? But I ain’t old when you need somebody to bail your ass outta jail. Or when you need rent money. I ain’t old then.”

  “You think you know everything. It’s not easy to just stop loving someone. I’m in love with her. I always will be.”

  “And what the hell’s so special about that bony, weird-looking girl? Look how she dresses and acts. Wear all that scary black eye shadow. All them damn piercings.” Swaggert motioned with his hands. “Girl got mo’ holes in her than a sifter. Remember when you first met her she had that green hair.” Swaggert shook his head. “I thought the bitch was on crack or something. It ain’t normal.”

  “She’s from the artistic crowd. They’re different.”

  “Look at cha’. Got stars in ya’ eyes already. Don’t let your dick lead you into misery, Bruce. Forget her. She ain’t worth it believe me. Go out and get you a tall sexy blond who’s dumb as a brick and won’t talk back.” Swaggert swept dust. “You’ll be better off believe me.”

  “Nah. I like my women with a brain.”

  “Why? The brainless ones are all right to me. Ha, ha!”

  Bruce took off his oily shirt and got a clean one from under the counter.

  “Can I knock off now for lunch?” Bruce took out his car keys.

  “Oh, man. See I knew it.”

  “Can I?”

  “You going to see that girl?”

  “Maybe.” Bruce swung the keys. “Maybe not. That’s my business.” He hopped from behind the counter. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

  “Bullshit you got work to do!” Swaggert hobbled out of the garage behind him.

  “And it’ll be here when I get back.”

  “Don’t be a damn fool, Bruce.”

  Bruce slammed the door of his white Mustang. Pearl Jam blasted from the radio when he revved the engine.

  “Turn that mess down! You know I don’t like all that loud music!”

  He waved out the window. “I’ll be back later!”

  “Don’t open up old wounds!”

  Bruce sped toward the gate with a trail of dust behind him.

  “Forget her!” Swaggert hollered in his hands. “Dylan Hollister ain’t nothing but trouble!”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Friday

  Jasmine flung plates of Red Velvet cake and glasses of punch to her sisters, Donna and Sandra. They smiled at Brianna and scampered out of Jasmine’s kitchen to serve the guests.

  Jasmine carried a giant tuna casserole to the table that already spilled over with food. “Would you like another piece of pecan pie, Detective Morris?” She dumped globs of casserole on the antique plates.

  “No I’ve already had two pieces.” Brianna did a half-twirl in her snug dress. “That’s my limit.”

  “Limit?” Jasmine grabbed plates from the cabinet. “I swear your waist is smaller than one of my thighs.” They laughed. “Besides, we’ve gone through the worse part of the day so we can at least celebrate Nadia’s memory by enjoying the food.”

  “The funeral was lovely. It’s so nice that you invited Steven and me.”

  “It was Dylan’s idea. I mean, I’m glad you came too of course.” Jasmine got homemade sauce out of the refrigerator. “It meant a lot to Dylan that you came.”

  “Why?” Brianna moved out of Jasmine’s way.

  “Well she likes you. You also meant a lot to Nadia. She says that you guys are making this much easier for her to handle. You and Zoë.”

  “So they’re real close huh?”

  “Zoë’s like a sister to Dylan.”

  Brianna bit into a peanut butter cookie. “Uh, she’s very pretty.”

  “Zoë?” Jasmine chucked balled up napkins into the trashcan. “The girl’s gorgeous.”

  “Yes she is.” Brianna found the cookie harder to swallow. “She takes over a room. Can’t help but notice her.”

  “And that body. Heck when I was in my twenties I had a great body but I didn’t look like that.”

  Brianna faked a smile.

  “Did you see how all the men were looking at her?” Jasmine licked vanilla frosting off the spatula. “Here we are trying to bury Nadia and those pigs are looking up and down Zoë’s dress. Even Pastor Hill ought to be ashamed.”

  Brianna dusted cookie crumbs off her hands. “Boys will be boys I guess.”

  “But there’s one man who wasn’t looking.” Jasmine filled glasses with juice. “Detective Kemp didn’t seem to notice Zoë’s dress, or lack of it.”

  “Oh please. Believe me he noticed big time. Did you see when he tripped coming out of the church? His eyes were glued to Zoë’s behind the entire time.”

  Jasmine shrugged. “Okay well we can’t blame him. He is a man. Still he seemed more interested in the lady standing beside him. I think we both know who that is.”

  Brianna flushed with warmth.

  “I’m sorry.” Jasmine put the juice away. “That isn’t my business.”


  “No you didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I embarrassed you didn’t I?”

  “No I’m not embarrassed.”

  “I just can tell that there’s more than business between you.”

  “So it’s that obvious?” Brianna searched the cookie tray for an oatmeal and raisin. “Steven and I were together for a long time.”

  “You see I could tell.” Jasmine sucked frosting off the spatula. “You two ever think of rekindling the fire?”

  Brianna went to the other side of the kitchen. “Uh, everything, uh really was lovely.”

  Steven walked in. He’d devoured his bowl of chocolate pudding.

  “Speak of the devil. Detective Kemp.” Jasmine gestured to the snacks. “Feel free to have some more of anything you like.”

  He scraped the sides of his bowl to get the remainder of pudding. He’d combed his hair so neatly Brianna could see the teeth marks. His Indigo suit made his eyes stand out more than usual.

  “Whoo, wee! Ms. Hudson that pudding hit the spot. I love anything chocolate.”

  Jasmine sucked in a chuckle. Brianna covered her grin.

  “What’s so funny? Did I miss something?”

  “No. Would you like some tuna casserole, Detective Kemp?”

  “Oh naw.” He scrunched up his nose. “But I’ll take a tuna sandwich on wheat.”

  “Uh, I don’t have any tuna sandwiches but I can make you one.”

  He set his bowl in the sink. “That’s cool.”

  “Steven.” Brianna bumped him. “Instead of asking for a sandwich why don’t you help out?”

  “Oh and is you eating all the cookies a form of helping out?” He moved the cookie tray.

  Jasmine laughed. “I must say you two are keeping my mind off Nadia and I appreciate that.” She got two plates, winked at Brianna and left.

  Steven stirred a fruit cup. “What the hell was that about?”

  “Nothing.” Brianna sipped juice. “It’s a woman thing.”

  “Jayce left a message on my cell.” Steven gobbled a spoonful of fruit. “Boy does he want your head on a stick ‘cause of those journals. I hope you weren’t blabbing info about the case to Jasmine.”